School History

We are trying to build an archive of school pictures, stories and media in this section. Please keep coming back as we will be adding items as we can get them.

If you are an Ex-Pupil of Castle Bromwich Junior School we'd love to hear your stories or pictures and we will show them here. Please drop us a line at office@cbjs.solihull.sch.uk

The school opened in 1939 with 66 pupils. The first headteacher was Mrs Olive Bott.

Thank you for all the contributions to date. They are really useful for our pupils to read as part of our history units- learning about how their school and the area have changed over time. Plus I personally love to read them.  Thank you again for sharing.

It's been so good to read the shared memories of CBJS.

I attended the school between 1962 and 1966, having attended the Infants School in Hurst Lane for my first school years.

My recollections of the Junior School are largely very happy with one or two exceptions.

My first year there, the equivalent of Year Three today was in one of the wooden hut classrooms at the Bentley Road end of the school - with the lovely, kindly Mrs Page and sometimes Miss? Mrs Bromyard who used to read us 'Winnie the Pooh' stories. Mrs Page read us Enid Blyton's 'The Boy Next Door' which utterly captivated me, and like many children from our era I became massive Blyton reader. Apart from my dreaded needlework lessons every Wednesday afternoon, this was a joyful time. Although my mother was an accomplished knitter who could make some beautiful Fair isle jumpers and cardigans, I didn't inherit her skills and I struggled to produce a scarf without a wobbly edge! The boys were whisked off somewhere to do woodwork or resistant materials as it may be called these days.

My next class teacher was Miss Bird, another kind and caring teacher who introduced us to C. S. Lewis by reading 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' followed by 'Prince Caspian', still some of my favorite childhood books.

My third year took a bit of a dive with Miss James, she was the strictest and most feared teacher in the school and despite  the fact that I was a well behaved child this was my unhappiest year.

My Year Six equivalent was very much my favorite year with the lovely Miss Julie Murdison who married and became Mrs Kirk and then left, and replaced buy another fabulous teacher whose name I am ashamed to say , I can't quite recall.

I have fond memories of the wet playtimes when the classrooms steamed up and we could read old comics (I loved this, there was a stash of Buntys that pre dated my weekly issue), In the playground we played skipping games with immensely long ropes, (usually a washing line) with a girl at each end, the 'jumping in' accompanied by the chanting of rhymes which I've long since forgotten. Then there was French skipping, (two ropes) Chinese skipping ( long pieces of elastic held around our ankles) - and playground games like Tig, (it's called Tag in Gloucestershire -  whilst pumps or plimsolls are called 'daps' here).

I only stayed for school dinners in my fourth year but I adored fish in parsley sauce, (every Friday), apple crumble and custard, and chocolate 'cracknel' with pink custard, I loved all the puddings really except prunes, which usually came with rice or semolina.

My still fairly meagre knowledge of classical music is all thanks to the blackboard displaying the details of the piece of music and composer which changed every week when marched in, class by class, into the hall for assembly.

Mr Cooper, the head teacher was kind but firm as I remember and I only had to go and see him once in his office to show him my (good) work.

Occasionally though, a boy would be sent to be caned (so how can caning ever be kind? Different times!), it was always a boy; either girls weren't as 'naughty' or the line at corporal punishment was drawn somewhere.

The annual school trips for years four, five and six were much looked forward to, - Matlock Baths and the Tissington well dressings in year four, Whipsnade Zoo in year five and London in year six – the trip to the Planetarium there fascinated me and I returned many years later at its 'new' site at Greenwich.

The two rules of school trips were “Don't forget your pacamac and remember that the good name of the school goes with you” (Mr Cooper).

It was at the end of the last year that I was lucky enough to be one of the chosen ones to go on the residential trip to Patterdale Hall in Glenridding in the Lake District. This was my first time a) North b) away from home, but after a few moments of homesickness I loved it, there were lots of very long uphill walks during the day and then communal ball games in the extensive grounds every evening. This was my first experience of mountains and stunning scenery. Kendal Mint Cake still makes me think of this time, - it was supplied in our daily rations.

I too remember Woodcock Street Baths every Monday morning with that 'beery, 'hoppy'' smell lingering in the air in the vicinity, presumably from the nearby breweries. I don't think that any of us non swimmers actually learnt to swim there, my biggest fear, apart from the water, was being left behind in the changing rooms and so I rarely got dried properly. However, the pay off for the misery was a scrumptious packet of Golden Wonder Ready Salted crisps which we purchased before we left, to be eaten on the coach home.(I finally learnt to swim in my 40's on a residential course with warm water and understanding instructors.)

Another advantage of this regular Monday trip was missing our arithmetic lesson, (not my best subject either).

I was never destined to  pass the 11+ in fact no one in my class did, though I think that with a little focused teaching and coaching, many of us could have done, however that wasn't the way it worked back then.

Thanks to a good education at Park Hall I fared reasonably well and went on the get a degree in Library Studies at Loughborough, but deep down, along with John Prescott I still have a chip on my shoulder about failing!

Can anyone remember the four 'house names' that we used to have for sports days? Back in my day I can remember Whateley (green), Arden (yellow) Newport (red) and ???? , whilst at Park Hall we had Adderley (green), Devereux (red), Newport (blue) and Arden (still yellow).

I left the area a number of years ago, living in Leicestershire, Dorset, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and now Gloucestershire for the last thirty years. My last post was in a junior school library, and whilst my parents were keen readers (and what a joy it was to visit Castle Bromwich library every Saturday with my Dad and to find an unread Enid Blyton on the shelf!), I like to think that my love of books was nurtured at CBJS.

My parents died in 2011 and 2017 respectively, but my sister and families still live there and my niece actually in the same house I grew up in, so I visit the area still from time to time, but I've never been back to the school.

Thanks for reading my memories and I look forward to seeing more of them on the site.

The two photos attached are of the Y3 equivalent (where I am in the second row far left  - and  I notice that I'm one of only a few girls still  to be wearing 'winter uniform',  my Mother was a firm believer in 'Ne'er cast a clout til May be Out', the teacher is Mrs Page )  and in Y6 where I'm in the front row fourth from the right.

Kind regards, Julie Winstanley, nee Mansell.

I attended what was then Castle Bromwich County Junior School in the 1961-1962 and 1962-1963 academic years, between the ages of seven and nine, having been a pupil at the infant school down the road before then. Unfortunately, my family moved out of the area, and I then attended another three primary schools before going on to Marsh Hill Boys Grammar-Technical Birmingham, in 1965.

I have the fondest memories of what has always been a highly-regarded school; and, following a recent, nostalgic return visit in February this year (2017), it is good to see the same standards are being maintained some 54 years on! All credit to the current Head Teacher Sarah Hobden and her staff.
Some of the teachers’ names remembered from all those years ago are Mr Cooper, the Headmaster, Mr Pidgeon, Mr Evans, Mr Thompson, Miss Scarf, Mr Mowbray, and Mr Cork – my much-feared form teacher in my second year there. I played football for the school B team at the age of eight. I am at the end of the second row on the right as you look at the attached team photograph, which also includes Mr Cork. Some names from the picture include Martin Davies, Stephen Moffat (the goalkeeper). Other surnames from the team, I think, are Larter, Middleton, Cope, and Howard.

I remember the school as being a very happy one, where although a relatively strict discipline was maintained, all the pupils always seemed fully engaged in work and play. The heating system, as another former pupil notes, broke down quite often, and in the big freeze of 1963 this was a regular occurrence. It was not unusual in those days at the school for teachers and children alike to engage in fully-blown snowball fights on the football pitch.
My career path has taken me back into education, and for the last 20 years I have been an economics lecturer at university. I guess some of what I was taught at Castle Bromwich must have stuck!

The school will always hold very special memories for me.

Dr David Jenkins
March 2017

Hello there from Letchworth in Hertfordshire. My name is Stephen James, the elder son of John and Brenda James, and I attended Castle Bromwich County Infant and Junior Schools from 1956 to 1962. I started at the mixed (Infant and Junior) School, where Mr (Jack) Cooper was headmaster and I was then one of the first children to attend the newly opened Infant School (in 1956). As our family lived in a recently built semi-detached house situated on Hurst Lane North (having moved from Small Heath in 1954), both the Infant and the Junior Schools were less than 5 minutes walk away. This allowed me to go home for a mid-day meal during the week and to watch "Lunchbox with Noelle Gordon" with my mother, on the new fangled, commercial television channel ATV. Happy days. Another favourite tv programme at that time, also on ATV, was "The Adventures of Robin Hood" starring Richard Greene. I particularly liked this because the theme song was sung by Stephen James (amongst others).

To be honest, the memories of my time at the Infant School are a bit hazy, although I do remember the awarding of stars for good work/good behaviour/good you name it. And the reward for accumulating a bucketful of stars? Well, at least in the summer, it was the privilege of opening the classroom's windows with a long handled pull. However, you had to do that before the rest of the class arrived and therefore it involved getting out of bed much earlier than usual. In two years at the Infant School, I never recognised the significant disadvantage of winning stars.

So, in September 1958, it was back to Castle Bromwich County Junior School and its rather fearsome headmaster, Mr Cooper. In those days, the caning of young children (or, at least, young boys) was an accepted part of primary school life. Although I managed to escape the ultimate punishment (though I came close a few times), a number of others were not so lucky. In spite of this shadow over the school's culture, I still remember my 4 years at the Junior School (1958-62) with a lot of affection.The teaching that my classes received was good including that given by Mr Pigeon (class 5.1, I think) and Mr (George) Evans (class 6.1, the fourth year). I should also mention a young, much loved female teacher who looked after us in either our first or second year (class 3.1 or 4.1). She died at a very young age (in 1960 or 1961 I believe). Unforgivably, I now cannot remember her name. Perhaps someone can help me out.

Probably best not to list all of my memories from those innocent years, so I will set out just a few, entirely at random:

The summer of 1959; it seemed to go on for ever, certainly from early May to late October;

The introduction of a refrigerated choc ice dispenser outside the Hurst Lane Post Office. For just sixpence (6d,

2 1/2p)  you could calm your fevered brow during the heatwave of '59. And they say that technology is more advanced today;

The school's heating system breaking down on a regular basis during the winter months. News of this was always greeted with great jubilation. Of course, in those days, nearly everbody's mother was a full-time housewife and would therefore be at home when you appeared at the front door unexpectedly early;

Being taken by coach to the Woodcock Street swimming baths in Birmingham to learn to swim, to swim and (mostly) to muck around;

Going to my first live football match at St Andrews in August 1960 with my good schoolfriend, Keith Bowes (Birmingham City v Sheffield Wednesday; 1-1);

Being told by our form teacher, Mr Pigeon, at the beginning of 1961 that this new year was a very unusual one. He asked us to explain why. Obviously none of us could provide a reason. And the answer was.....? It read the same if you turned the numbers upside down;

Watching the Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, receiving a hero's welcome in Moscow in April 1961 LIVE ON TV! How mad was that and how did they do it?

The process by which those who were deemed unable to sing (known as The Growlers as I recall) were removed from the various choirs prior to the annual school concert. Each class came into the assembly room, was formed into rows and then began to sing. The teacher(s) would walk up and down each row and identify those who did not meet the required standard. No doubt this led to a much purer sound on the night, as well as to many children being put off singing for life. What The Growlers actually did during the evening of the concert I have no idea;

A partial eclipse of the sun in either October 1959 or February 1961, I'm not sure which. The whole school trooped out into the playground to observe the event. I'm pretty sure that the eye protection rules were not as strict then as they would be today;

The opening of The Farthings pub on Green Lane around 1961 or 1962. On this establishment's first day, if you could produce a farthing coin (of which there were 960 in a pound), it would buy you a pint of beer. As, at the time, a pint would have normally cost about 24 farthings (6d), this was a pretty good deal. The only problem was that the farthing had been phased out as legal tender between 1956 and 1960 and, as a result, there weren't many of them still around. So, a few of us from the school had the bright idea of standing outside the pub and offering farthing coins for sale for something like thruppence (3d, about 1p). It was a very profitable evening;

The testing of the school's air raid alarm on a regular basis, presumably so that we would know in advance when Castle Bromwich (or, more likely, Birmingham) was under nuclear attack. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the severe German bombings of Birmingham and Coventry were still quite recent memories, some of the school's staff found this reminder of terrible events difficult to deal with. I can certainly remember some anguished cries on occasions;

The annual free film show for local primary schools held at the magnificent Castle cinema (which was subsequently replaced by the less magnificent Tesco store). I recall this film show resulting in absolute mayhem each year. It appeared to be virtually an adult free zone. Certainly, noone, young or old, seemed to watch the film.

Enough; apologies to all concerned if any of the above turn out to be a mere figments of my fevered imagination.

In addition to the threat of caning and of being identified as a Growler, there was one further shadow over the experience of those educated at primary school in the 1950s and 1960s; the divisive cruelty of the 11-plus examination. As I recall it, the Junior School's policy to deal with the examination was rigorous streaming on academic lines. Certainly, the fourth year, when the 11-plus was taken, was streamed into three classes, 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3. Again, my recollection is that the top streams received considerable help in answering IQ questions of the type that would feature in the forthcoming examination, whilst those in the lowest stream (6.3) were not so lucky.

Anyway, we all took the exam and some passed and others did not. This led to a final indignity that those who had failed had to suffer. They had to face their friends/classmates who had passed. A young girl in class 6.1 who had failed, a good friend of mine, was in floods of tears the day after the results came out. Even at the age of 11, I could see that branding children as failures at such an early age (or indeed at any age) was a very mean trick.

So, those who were lucky enough to pass the 11-plus examination went off to grammar school (Bishop Vesey and Coleshill Grammar, I think) and those who failed generally moved onto a secondary modern (Park Hall). There was however a third way in those days for Birmingham children whose families could not afford private school fees. That was to take the entrance examinations for King Edward's School (boys) and King Edward VI High School (girls), both situated in Edgbaston. According to my father's account, Mr Cooper was of the opinion that there was no "King Edward's" material amongst the boys in our class. In spite of this gloomy prognosis, the parents of three boys, Martin Leadbetter, Stephen (Sid) Taylor and the writer, put their names forward to take these additional exams. To the School's credit, we received a lot of further training aimed at achieving a pass and indeed we all did pass. In my case at least, it remains a complete mystery how this could have happened. I think that at least one girl in our class (Lindsay Smith) also passed the KEHS exams.

Finally, I arrived at July 1962 and the end of my time in Castle Bromwich's schools. It was rather a sad period for me, not only having to move on after nearly 7 years, but also facing the prospect of losing most of my close friends to different schools. Looking back, although I have reservations about the corporal punishment, the rigorous streaming purely on academic lines and the nature of the 11-plus, I recognise that, for some of us, this period (1956-62) represented a golden era in education for the children of families of fairly limited means. Opportunities were considerable and social mobility was a reality. Mine has turned out to be a pretty happy life, both at work and at home, and it all started at Castle Bromwich's Infant and Junior Schools. So many belated thanks to the headmaster, the teachers and all of the other staff or, more likely, to their children and grandchildren.

For some reason, I don't have any class photo, although I do have rather a sweet one of me aged 10 or 11, see below. My younger brother, Philip James, who also attended Castle Bromwich's two primary schools, as well as King Edward's in Edgbaston, is rather luckier. He has a school photo which I believe was taken when he was 8 in 1964, see below. Philip is on the back row, second from the right. I also have a (digitalised) cine film taken at a Junior School sports day in 1964. It features my brother (dropping the relay baton), his good friend David Webb (Castle Bromwich's answer to Usain Bolt during the mid-1960s) streaking away from rest of the field, as well as brief glimpses of Mr Cooper and (I think) Mr Pigeon. If you have the means to upload it, and wish to do so, please let me know.

Stephen James

School History

We are trying to build an archive of school pictures, stories and media in this section. Please keep coming back as we will be adding items as we can get them.

If you are an Ex-Pupil of Castle Bromwich Junior School we'd love to hear your stories or pictures and we will show them here. Please drop us a line at office@cbjs.solihull.sch.uk

The school opened in 1939 with 66 pupils. The first headteacher was Mrs Olive Bott.

Thank you for all the contributions to date. They are really useful for our pupils to read as part of our history units- learning about how their school and the area have changed over time. Plus I personally love to read them.  Thank you again for sharing.

It's been so good to read the shared memories of CBJS.

I attended the school between 1962 and 1966, having attended the Infants School in Hurst Lane for my first school years.

My recollections of the Junior School are largely very happy with one or two exceptions.

My first year there, the equivalent of Year Three today was in one of the wooden hut classrooms at the Bentley Road end of the school - with the lovely, kindly Mrs Page and sometimes Miss? Mrs Bromyard who used to read us 'Winnie the Pooh' stories. Mrs Page read us Enid Blyton's 'The Boy Next Door' which utterly captivated me, and like many children from our era I became massive Blyton reader. Apart from my dreaded needlework lessons every Wednesday afternoon, this was a joyful time. Although my mother was an accomplished knitter who could make some beautiful Fair isle jumpers and cardigans, I didn't inherit her skills and I struggled to produce a scarf without a wobbly edge! The boys were whisked off somewhere to do woodwork or resistant materials as it may be called these days.

My next class teacher was Miss Bird, another kind and caring teacher who introduced us to C. S. Lewis by reading 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' followed by 'Prince Caspian', still some of my favorite childhood books.

My third year took a bit of a dive with Miss James, she was the strictest and most feared teacher in the school and despite  the fact that I was a well behaved child this was my unhappiest year.

My Year Six equivalent was very much my favorite year with the lovely Miss Julie Murdison who married and became Mrs Kirk and then left, and replaced buy another fabulous teacher whose name I am ashamed to say , I can't quite recall.

I have fond memories of the wet playtimes when the classrooms steamed up and we could read old comics (I loved this, there was a stash of Buntys that pre dated my weekly issue), In the playground we played skipping games with immensely long ropes, (usually a washing line) with a girl at each end, the 'jumping in' accompanied by the chanting of rhymes which I've long since forgotten. Then there was French skipping, (two ropes) Chinese skipping ( long pieces of elastic held around our ankles) - and playground games like Tig, (it's called Tag in Gloucestershire -  whilst pumps or plimsolls are called 'daps' here).

I only stayed for school dinners in my fourth year but I adored fish in parsley sauce, (every Friday), apple crumble and custard, and chocolate 'cracknel' with pink custard, I loved all the puddings really except prunes, which usually came with rice or semolina.

My still fairly meagre knowledge of classical music is all thanks to the blackboard displaying the details of the piece of music and composer which changed every week when marched in, class by class, into the hall for assembly.

Mr Cooper, the head teacher was kind but firm as I remember and I only had to go and see him once in his office to show him my (good) work.

Occasionally though, a boy would be sent to be caned (so how can caning ever be kind? Different times!), it was always a boy; either girls weren't as 'naughty' or the line at corporal punishment was drawn somewhere.

The annual school trips for years four, five and six were much looked forward to, - Matlock Baths and the Tissington well dressings in year four, Whipsnade Zoo in year five and London in year six – the trip to the Planetarium there fascinated me and I returned many years later at its 'new' site at Greenwich.

The two rules of school trips were “Don't forget your pacamac and remember that the good name of the school goes with you” (Mr Cooper).

It was at the end of the last year that I was lucky enough to be one of the chosen ones to go on the residential trip to Patterdale Hall in Glenridding in the Lake District. This was my first time a) North b) away from home, but after a few moments of homesickness I loved it, there were lots of very long uphill walks during the day and then communal ball games in the extensive grounds every evening. This was my first experience of mountains and stunning scenery. Kendal Mint Cake still makes me think of this time, - it was supplied in our daily rations.

I too remember Woodcock Street Baths every Monday morning with that 'beery, 'hoppy'' smell lingering in the air in the vicinity, presumably from the nearby breweries. I don't think that any of us non swimmers actually learnt to swim there, my biggest fear, apart from the water, was being left behind in the changing rooms and so I rarely got dried properly. However, the pay off for the misery was a scrumptious packet of Golden Wonder Ready Salted crisps which we purchased before we left, to be eaten on the coach home.(I finally learnt to swim in my 40's on a residential course with warm water and understanding instructors.)

Another advantage of this regular Monday trip was missing our arithmetic lesson, (not my best subject either).

I was never destined to  pass the 11+ in fact no one in my class did, though I think that with a little focused teaching and coaching, many of us could have done, however that wasn't the way it worked back then.

Thanks to a good education at Park Hall I fared reasonably well and went on the get a degree in Library Studies at Loughborough, but deep down, along with John Prescott I still have a chip on my shoulder about failing!

Can anyone remember the four 'house names' that we used to have for sports days? Back in my day I can remember Whateley (green), Arden (yellow) Newport (red) and ???? , whilst at Park Hall we had Adderley (green), Devereux (red), Newport (blue) and Arden (still yellow).

I left the area a number of years ago, living in Leicestershire, Dorset, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and now Gloucestershire for the last thirty years. My last post was in a junior school library, and whilst my parents were keen readers (and what a joy it was to visit Castle Bromwich library every Saturday with my Dad and to find an unread Enid Blyton on the shelf!), I like to think that my love of books was nurtured at CBJS.

My parents died in 2011 and 2017 respectively, but my sister and families still live there and my niece actually in the same house I grew up in, so I visit the area still from time to time, but I've never been back to the school.

Thanks for reading my memories and I look forward to seeing more of them on the site.

The two photos attached are of the Y3 equivalent (where I am in the second row far left  - and  I notice that I'm one of only a few girls still  to be wearing 'winter uniform',  my Mother was a firm believer in 'Ne'er cast a clout til May be Out', the teacher is Mrs Page )  and in Y6 where I'm in the front row fourth from the right.

Kind regards, Julie Winstanley, nee Mansell.

I attended what was then Castle Bromwich County Junior School in the 1961-1962 and 1962-1963 academic years, between the ages of seven and nine, having been a pupil at the infant school down the road before then. Unfortunately, my family moved out of the area, and I then attended another three primary schools before going on to Marsh Hill Boys Grammar-Technical Birmingham, in 1965.

I have the fondest memories of what has always been a highly-regarded school; and, following a recent, nostalgic return visit in February this year (2017), it is good to see the same standards are being maintained some 54 years on! All credit to the current Head Teacher Sarah Hobden and her staff.
Some of the teachers’ names remembered from all those years ago are Mr Cooper, the Headmaster, Mr Pidgeon, Mr Evans, Mr Thompson, Miss Scarf, Mr Mowbray, and Mr Cork – my much-feared form teacher in my second year there. I played football for the school B team at the age of eight. I am at the end of the second row on the right as you look at the attached team photograph, which also includes Mr Cork. Some names from the picture include Martin Davies, Stephen Moffat (the goalkeeper). Other surnames from the team, I think, are Larter, Middleton, Cope, and Howard.

I remember the school as being a very happy one, where although a relatively strict discipline was maintained, all the pupils always seemed fully engaged in work and play. The heating system, as another former pupil notes, broke down quite often, and in the big freeze of 1963 this was a regular occurrence. It was not unusual in those days at the school for teachers and children alike to engage in fully-blown snowball fights on the football pitch.
My career path has taken me back into education, and for the last 20 years I have been an economics lecturer at university. I guess some of what I was taught at Castle Bromwich must have stuck!

The school will always hold very special memories for me.

Dr David Jenkins
March 2017

Hello there from Letchworth in Hertfordshire. My name is Stephen James, the elder son of John and Brenda James, and I attended Castle Bromwich County Infant and Junior Schools from 1956 to 1962. I started at the mixed (Infant and Junior) School, where Mr (Jack) Cooper was headmaster and I was then one of the first children to attend the newly opened Infant School (in 1956). As our family lived in a recently built semi-detached house situated on Hurst Lane North (having moved from Small Heath in 1954), both the Infant and the Junior Schools were less than 5 minutes walk away. This allowed me to go home for a mid-day meal during the week and to watch "Lunchbox with Noelle Gordon" with my mother, on the new fangled, commercial television channel ATV. Happy days. Another favourite tv programme at that time, also on ATV, was "The Adventures of Robin Hood" starring Richard Greene. I particularly liked this because the theme song was sung by Stephen James (amongst others).

To be honest, the memories of my time at the Infant School are a bit hazy, although I do remember the awarding of stars for good work/good behaviour/good you name it. And the reward for accumulating a bucketful of stars? Well, at least in the summer, it was the privilege of opening the classroom's windows with a long handled pull. However, you had to do that before the rest of the class arrived and therefore it involved getting out of bed much earlier than usual. In two years at the Infant School, I never recognised the significant disadvantage of winning stars.

So, in September 1958, it was back to Castle Bromwich County Junior School and its rather fearsome headmaster, Mr Cooper. In those days, the caning of young children (or, at least, young boys) was an accepted part of primary school life. Although I managed to escape the ultimate punishment (though I came close a few times), a number of others were not so lucky. In spite of this shadow over the school's culture, I still remember my 4 years at the Junior School (1958-62) with a lot of affection.The teaching that my classes received was good including that given by Mr Pigeon (class 5.1, I think) and Mr (George) Evans (class 6.1, the fourth year). I should also mention a young, much loved female teacher who looked after us in either our first or second year (class 3.1 or 4.1). She died at a very young age (in 1960 or 1961 I believe). Unforgivably, I now cannot remember her name. Perhaps someone can help me out.

Probably best not to list all of my memories from those innocent years, so I will set out just a few, entirely at random:

The summer of 1959; it seemed to go on for ever, certainly from early May to late October;

The introduction of a refrigerated choc ice dispenser outside the Hurst Lane Post Office. For just sixpence (6d,

2 1/2p)  you could calm your fevered brow during the heatwave of '59. And they say that technology is more advanced today;

The school's heating system breaking down on a regular basis during the winter months. News of this was always greeted with great jubilation. Of course, in those days, nearly everbody's mother was a full-time housewife and would therefore be at home when you appeared at the front door unexpectedly early;

Being taken by coach to the Woodcock Street swimming baths in Birmingham to learn to swim, to swim and (mostly) to muck around;

Going to my first live football match at St Andrews in August 1960 with my good schoolfriend, Keith Bowes (Birmingham City v Sheffield Wednesday; 1-1);

Being told by our form teacher, Mr Pigeon, at the beginning of 1961 that this new year was a very unusual one. He asked us to explain why. Obviously none of us could provide a reason. And the answer was.....? It read the same if you turned the numbers upside down;

Watching the Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, receiving a hero's welcome in Moscow in April 1961 LIVE ON TV! How mad was that and how did they do it?

The process by which those who were deemed unable to sing (known as The Growlers as I recall) were removed from the various choirs prior to the annual school concert. Each class came into the assembly room, was formed into rows and then began to sing. The teacher(s) would walk up and down each row and identify those who did not meet the required standard. No doubt this led to a much purer sound on the night, as well as to many children being put off singing for life. What The Growlers actually did during the evening of the concert I have no idea;

A partial eclipse of the sun in either October 1959 or February 1961, I'm not sure which. The whole school trooped out into the playground to observe the event. I'm pretty sure that the eye protection rules were not as strict then as they would be today;

The opening of The Farthings pub on Green Lane around 1961 or 1962. On this establishment's first day, if you could produce a farthing coin (of which there were 960 in a pound), it would buy you a pint of beer. As, at the time, a pint would have normally cost about 24 farthings (6d), this was a pretty good deal. The only problem was that the farthing had been phased out as legal tender between 1956 and 1960 and, as a result, there weren't many of them still around. So, a few of us from the school had the bright idea of standing outside the pub and offering farthing coins for sale for something like thruppence (3d, about 1p). It was a very profitable evening;

The testing of the school's air raid alarm on a regular basis, presumably so that we would know in advance when Castle Bromwich (or, more likely, Birmingham) was under nuclear attack. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the severe German bombings of Birmingham and Coventry were still quite recent memories, some of the school's staff found this reminder of terrible events difficult to deal with. I can certainly remember some anguished cries on occasions;

The annual free film show for local primary schools held at the magnificent Castle cinema (which was subsequently replaced by the less magnificent Tesco store). I recall this film show resulting in absolute mayhem each year. It appeared to be virtually an adult free zone. Certainly, noone, young or old, seemed to watch the film.

Enough; apologies to all concerned if any of the above turn out to be a mere figments of my fevered imagination.

In addition to the threat of caning and of being identified as a Growler, there was one further shadow over the experience of those educated at primary school in the 1950s and 1960s; the divisive cruelty of the 11-plus examination. As I recall it, the Junior School's policy to deal with the examination was rigorous streaming on academic lines. Certainly, the fourth year, when the 11-plus was taken, was streamed into three classes, 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3. Again, my recollection is that the top streams received considerable help in answering IQ questions of the type that would feature in the forthcoming examination, whilst those in the lowest stream (6.3) were not so lucky.

Anyway, we all took the exam and some passed and others did not. This led to a final indignity that those who had failed had to suffer. They had to face their friends/classmates who had passed. A young girl in class 6.1 who had failed, a good friend of mine, was in floods of tears the day after the results came out. Even at the age of 11, I could see that branding children as failures at such an early age (or indeed at any age) was a very mean trick.

So, those who were lucky enough to pass the 11-plus examination went off to grammar school (Bishop Vesey and Coleshill Grammar, I think) and those who failed generally moved onto a secondary modern (Park Hall). There was however a third way in those days for Birmingham children whose families could not afford private school fees. That was to take the entrance examinations for King Edward's School (boys) and King Edward VI High School (girls), both situated in Edgbaston. According to my father's account, Mr Cooper was of the opinion that there was no "King Edward's" material amongst the boys in our class. In spite of this gloomy prognosis, the parents of three boys, Martin Leadbetter, Stephen (Sid) Taylor and the writer, put their names forward to take these additional exams. To the School's credit, we received a lot of further training aimed at achieving a pass and indeed we all did pass. In my case at least, it remains a complete mystery how this could have happened. I think that at least one girl in our class (Lindsay Smith) also passed the KEHS exams.

Finally, I arrived at July 1962 and the end of my time in Castle Bromwich's schools. It was rather a sad period for me, not only having to move on after nearly 7 years, but also facing the prospect of losing most of my close friends to different schools. Looking back, although I have reservations about the corporal punishment, the rigorous streaming purely on academic lines and the nature of the 11-plus, I recognise that, for some of us, this period (1956-62) represented a golden era in education for the children of families of fairly limited means. Opportunities were considerable and social mobility was a reality. Mine has turned out to be a pretty happy life, both at work and at home, and it all started at Castle Bromwich's Infant and Junior Schools. So many belated thanks to the headmaster, the teachers and all of the other staff or, more likely, to their children and grandchildren.

For some reason, I don't have any class photo, although I do have rather a sweet one of me aged 10 or 11, see below. My younger brother, Philip James, who also attended Castle Bromwich's two primary schools, as well as King Edward's in Edgbaston, is rather luckier. He has a school photo which I believe was taken when he was 8 in 1964, see below. Philip is on the back row, second from the right. I also have a (digitalised) cine film taken at a Junior School sports day in 1964. It features my brother (dropping the relay baton), his good friend David Webb (Castle Bromwich's answer to Usain Bolt during the mid-1960s) streaking away from rest of the field, as well as brief glimpses of Mr Cooper and (I think) Mr Pigeon. If you have the means to upload it, and wish to do so, please let me know.

Stephen James

School History

We are trying to build an archive of school pictures, stories and media in this section. Please keep coming back as we will be adding items as we can get them.

If you are an Ex-Pupil of Castle Bromwich Junior School we'd love to hear your stories or pictures and we will show them here. Please drop us a line at office@cbjs.solihull.sch.uk

The school opened in 1939 with 66 pupils. The first headteacher was Mrs Olive Bott.

Thank you for all the contributions to date. They are really useful for our pupils to read as part of our history units- learning about how their school and the area have changed over time. Plus I personally love to read them.  Thank you again for sharing.

It's been so good to read the shared memories of CBJS.

I attended the school between 1962 and 1966, having attended the Infants School in Hurst Lane for my first school years.

My recollections of the Junior School are largely very happy with one or two exceptions.

My first year there, the equivalent of Year Three today was in one of the wooden hut classrooms at the Bentley Road end of the school - with the lovely, kindly Mrs Page and sometimes Miss? Mrs Bromyard who used to read us 'Winnie the Pooh' stories. Mrs Page read us Enid Blyton's 'The Boy Next Door' which utterly captivated me, and like many children from our era I became massive Blyton reader. Apart from my dreaded needlework lessons every Wednesday afternoon, this was a joyful time. Although my mother was an accomplished knitter who could make some beautiful Fair isle jumpers and cardigans, I didn't inherit her skills and I struggled to produce a scarf without a wobbly edge! The boys were whisked off somewhere to do woodwork or resistant materials as it may be called these days.

My next class teacher was Miss Bird, another kind and caring teacher who introduced us to C. S. Lewis by reading 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' followed by 'Prince Caspian', still some of my favorite childhood books.

My third year took a bit of a dive with Miss James, she was the strictest and most feared teacher in the school and despite  the fact that I was a well behaved child this was my unhappiest year.

My Year Six equivalent was very much my favorite year with the lovely Miss Julie Murdison who married and became Mrs Kirk and then left, and replaced buy another fabulous teacher whose name I am ashamed to say , I can't quite recall.

I have fond memories of the wet playtimes when the classrooms steamed up and we could read old comics (I loved this, there was a stash of Buntys that pre dated my weekly issue), In the playground we played skipping games with immensely long ropes, (usually a washing line) with a girl at each end, the 'jumping in' accompanied by the chanting of rhymes which I've long since forgotten. Then there was French skipping, (two ropes) Chinese skipping ( long pieces of elastic held around our ankles) - and playground games like Tig, (it's called Tag in Gloucestershire -  whilst pumps or plimsolls are called 'daps' here).

I only stayed for school dinners in my fourth year but I adored fish in parsley sauce, (every Friday), apple crumble and custard, and chocolate 'cracknel' with pink custard, I loved all the puddings really except prunes, which usually came with rice or semolina.

My still fairly meagre knowledge of classical music is all thanks to the blackboard displaying the details of the piece of music and composer which changed every week when marched in, class by class, into the hall for assembly.

Mr Cooper, the head teacher was kind but firm as I remember and I only had to go and see him once in his office to show him my (good) work.

Occasionally though, a boy would be sent to be caned (so how can caning ever be kind? Different times!), it was always a boy; either girls weren't as 'naughty' or the line at corporal punishment was drawn somewhere.

The annual school trips for years four, five and six were much looked forward to, - Matlock Baths and the Tissington well dressings in year four, Whipsnade Zoo in year five and London in year six – the trip to the Planetarium there fascinated me and I returned many years later at its 'new' site at Greenwich.

The two rules of school trips were “Don't forget your pacamac and remember that the good name of the school goes with you” (Mr Cooper).

It was at the end of the last year that I was lucky enough to be one of the chosen ones to go on the residential trip to Patterdale Hall in Glenridding in the Lake District. This was my first time a) North b) away from home, but after a few moments of homesickness I loved it, there were lots of very long uphill walks during the day and then communal ball games in the extensive grounds every evening. This was my first experience of mountains and stunning scenery. Kendal Mint Cake still makes me think of this time, - it was supplied in our daily rations.

I too remember Woodcock Street Baths every Monday morning with that 'beery, 'hoppy'' smell lingering in the air in the vicinity, presumably from the nearby breweries. I don't think that any of us non swimmers actually learnt to swim there, my biggest fear, apart from the water, was being left behind in the changing rooms and so I rarely got dried properly. However, the pay off for the misery was a scrumptious packet of Golden Wonder Ready Salted crisps which we purchased before we left, to be eaten on the coach home.(I finally learnt to swim in my 40's on a residential course with warm water and understanding instructors.)

Another advantage of this regular Monday trip was missing our arithmetic lesson, (not my best subject either).

I was never destined to  pass the 11+ in fact no one in my class did, though I think that with a little focused teaching and coaching, many of us could have done, however that wasn't the way it worked back then.

Thanks to a good education at Park Hall I fared reasonably well and went on the get a degree in Library Studies at Loughborough, but deep down, along with John Prescott I still have a chip on my shoulder about failing!

Can anyone remember the four 'house names' that we used to have for sports days? Back in my day I can remember Whateley (green), Arden (yellow) Newport (red) and ???? , whilst at Park Hall we had Adderley (green), Devereux (red), Newport (blue) and Arden (still yellow).

I left the area a number of years ago, living in Leicestershire, Dorset, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and now Gloucestershire for the last thirty years. My last post was in a junior school library, and whilst my parents were keen readers (and what a joy it was to visit Castle Bromwich library every Saturday with my Dad and to find an unread Enid Blyton on the shelf!), I like to think that my love of books was nurtured at CBJS.

My parents died in 2011 and 2017 respectively, but my sister and families still live there and my niece actually in the same house I grew up in, so I visit the area still from time to time, but I've never been back to the school.

Thanks for reading my memories and I look forward to seeing more of them on the site.

The two photos attached are of the Y3 equivalent (where I am in the second row far left  - and  I notice that I'm one of only a few girls still  to be wearing 'winter uniform',  my Mother was a firm believer in 'Ne'er cast a clout til May be Out', the teacher is Mrs Page )  and in Y6 where I'm in the front row fourth from the right.

Kind regards, Julie Winstanley, nee Mansell.

I attended what was then Castle Bromwich County Junior School in the 1961-1962 and 1962-1963 academic years, between the ages of seven and nine, having been a pupil at the infant school down the road before then. Unfortunately, my family moved out of the area, and I then attended another three primary schools before going on to Marsh Hill Boys Grammar-Technical Birmingham, in 1965.

I have the fondest memories of what has always been a highly-regarded school; and, following a recent, nostalgic return visit in February this year (2017), it is good to see the same standards are being maintained some 54 years on! All credit to the current Head Teacher Sarah Hobden and her staff.
Some of the teachers’ names remembered from all those years ago are Mr Cooper, the Headmaster, Mr Pidgeon, Mr Evans, Mr Thompson, Miss Scarf, Mr Mowbray, and Mr Cork – my much-feared form teacher in my second year there. I played football for the school B team at the age of eight. I am at the end of the second row on the right as you look at the attached team photograph, which also includes Mr Cork. Some names from the picture include Martin Davies, Stephen Moffat (the goalkeeper). Other surnames from the team, I think, are Larter, Middleton, Cope, and Howard.

I remember the school as being a very happy one, where although a relatively strict discipline was maintained, all the pupils always seemed fully engaged in work and play. The heating system, as another former pupil notes, broke down quite often, and in the big freeze of 1963 this was a regular occurrence. It was not unusual in those days at the school for teachers and children alike to engage in fully-blown snowball fights on the football pitch.
My career path has taken me back into education, and for the last 20 years I have been an economics lecturer at university. I guess some of what I was taught at Castle Bromwich must have stuck!

The school will always hold very special memories for me.

Dr David Jenkins
March 2017

Hello there from Letchworth in Hertfordshire. My name is Stephen James, the elder son of John and Brenda James, and I attended Castle Bromwich County Infant and Junior Schools from 1956 to 1962. I started at the mixed (Infant and Junior) School, where Mr (Jack) Cooper was headmaster and I was then one of the first children to attend the newly opened Infant School (in 1956). As our family lived in a recently built semi-detached house situated on Hurst Lane North (having moved from Small Heath in 1954), both the Infant and the Junior Schools were less than 5 minutes walk away. This allowed me to go home for a mid-day meal during the week and to watch "Lunchbox with Noelle Gordon" with my mother, on the new fangled, commercial television channel ATV. Happy days. Another favourite tv programme at that time, also on ATV, was "The Adventures of Robin Hood" starring Richard Greene. I particularly liked this because the theme song was sung by Stephen James (amongst others).

To be honest, the memories of my time at the Infant School are a bit hazy, although I do remember the awarding of stars for good work/good behaviour/good you name it. And the reward for accumulating a bucketful of stars? Well, at least in the summer, it was the privilege of opening the classroom's windows with a long handled pull. However, you had to do that before the rest of the class arrived and therefore it involved getting out of bed much earlier than usual. In two years at the Infant School, I never recognised the significant disadvantage of winning stars.

So, in September 1958, it was back to Castle Bromwich County Junior School and its rather fearsome headmaster, Mr Cooper. In those days, the caning of young children (or, at least, young boys) was an accepted part of primary school life. Although I managed to escape the ultimate punishment (though I came close a few times), a number of others were not so lucky. In spite of this shadow over the school's culture, I still remember my 4 years at the Junior School (1958-62) with a lot of affection.The teaching that my classes received was good including that given by Mr Pigeon (class 5.1, I think) and Mr (George) Evans (class 6.1, the fourth year). I should also mention a young, much loved female teacher who looked after us in either our first or second year (class 3.1 or 4.1). She died at a very young age (in 1960 or 1961 I believe). Unforgivably, I now cannot remember her name. Perhaps someone can help me out.

Probably best not to list all of my memories from those innocent years, so I will set out just a few, entirely at random:

The summer of 1959; it seemed to go on for ever, certainly from early May to late October;

The introduction of a refrigerated choc ice dispenser outside the Hurst Lane Post Office. For just sixpence (6d,

2 1/2p)  you could calm your fevered brow during the heatwave of '59. And they say that technology is more advanced today;

The school's heating system breaking down on a regular basis during the winter months. News of this was always greeted with great jubilation. Of course, in those days, nearly everbody's mother was a full-time housewife and would therefore be at home when you appeared at the front door unexpectedly early;

Being taken by coach to the Woodcock Street swimming baths in Birmingham to learn to swim, to swim and (mostly) to muck around;

Going to my first live football match at St Andrews in August 1960 with my good schoolfriend, Keith Bowes (Birmingham City v Sheffield Wednesday; 1-1);

Being told by our form teacher, Mr Pigeon, at the beginning of 1961 that this new year was a very unusual one. He asked us to explain why. Obviously none of us could provide a reason. And the answer was.....? It read the same if you turned the numbers upside down;

Watching the Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, receiving a hero's welcome in Moscow in April 1961 LIVE ON TV! How mad was that and how did they do it?

The process by which those who were deemed unable to sing (known as The Growlers as I recall) were removed from the various choirs prior to the annual school concert. Each class came into the assembly room, was formed into rows and then began to sing. The teacher(s) would walk up and down each row and identify those who did not meet the required standard. No doubt this led to a much purer sound on the night, as well as to many children being put off singing for life. What The Growlers actually did during the evening of the concert I have no idea;

A partial eclipse of the sun in either October 1959 or February 1961, I'm not sure which. The whole school trooped out into the playground to observe the event. I'm pretty sure that the eye protection rules were not as strict then as they would be today;

The opening of The Farthings pub on Green Lane around 1961 or 1962. On this establishment's first day, if you could produce a farthing coin (of which there were 960 in a pound), it would buy you a pint of beer. As, at the time, a pint would have normally cost about 24 farthings (6d), this was a pretty good deal. The only problem was that the farthing had been phased out as legal tender between 1956 and 1960 and, as a result, there weren't many of them still around. So, a few of us from the school had the bright idea of standing outside the pub and offering farthing coins for sale for something like thruppence (3d, about 1p). It was a very profitable evening;

The testing of the school's air raid alarm on a regular basis, presumably so that we would know in advance when Castle Bromwich (or, more likely, Birmingham) was under nuclear attack. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the severe German bombings of Birmingham and Coventry were still quite recent memories, some of the school's staff found this reminder of terrible events difficult to deal with. I can certainly remember some anguished cries on occasions;

The annual free film show for local primary schools held at the magnificent Castle cinema (which was subsequently replaced by the less magnificent Tesco store). I recall this film show resulting in absolute mayhem each year. It appeared to be virtually an adult free zone. Certainly, noone, young or old, seemed to watch the film.

Enough; apologies to all concerned if any of the above turn out to be a mere figments of my fevered imagination.

In addition to the threat of caning and of being identified as a Growler, there was one further shadow over the experience of those educated at primary school in the 1950s and 1960s; the divisive cruelty of the 11-plus examination. As I recall it, the Junior School's policy to deal with the examination was rigorous streaming on academic lines. Certainly, the fourth year, when the 11-plus was taken, was streamed into three classes, 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3. Again, my recollection is that the top streams received considerable help in answering IQ questions of the type that would feature in the forthcoming examination, whilst those in the lowest stream (6.3) were not so lucky.

Anyway, we all took the exam and some passed and others did not. This led to a final indignity that those who had failed had to suffer. They had to face their friends/classmates who had passed. A young girl in class 6.1 who had failed, a good friend of mine, was in floods of tears the day after the results came out. Even at the age of 11, I could see that branding children as failures at such an early age (or indeed at any age) was a very mean trick.

So, those who were lucky enough to pass the 11-plus examination went off to grammar school (Bishop Vesey and Coleshill Grammar, I think) and those who failed generally moved onto a secondary modern (Park Hall). There was however a third way in those days for Birmingham children whose families could not afford private school fees. That was to take the entrance examinations for King Edward's School (boys) and King Edward VI High School (girls), both situated in Edgbaston. According to my father's account, Mr Cooper was of the opinion that there was no "King Edward's" material amongst the boys in our class. In spite of this gloomy prognosis, the parents of three boys, Martin Leadbetter, Stephen (Sid) Taylor and the writer, put their names forward to take these additional exams. To the School's credit, we received a lot of further training aimed at achieving a pass and indeed we all did pass. In my case at least, it remains a complete mystery how this could have happened. I think that at least one girl in our class (Lindsay Smith) also passed the KEHS exams.

Finally, I arrived at July 1962 and the end of my time in Castle Bromwich's schools. It was rather a sad period for me, not only having to move on after nearly 7 years, but also facing the prospect of losing most of my close friends to different schools. Looking back, although I have reservations about the corporal punishment, the rigorous streaming purely on academic lines and the nature of the 11-plus, I recognise that, for some of us, this period (1956-62) represented a golden era in education for the children of families of fairly limited means. Opportunities were considerable and social mobility was a reality. Mine has turned out to be a pretty happy life, both at work and at home, and it all started at Castle Bromwich's Infant and Junior Schools. So many belated thanks to the headmaster, the teachers and all of the other staff or, more likely, to their children and grandchildren.

For some reason, I don't have any class photo, although I do have rather a sweet one of me aged 10 or 11, see below. My younger brother, Philip James, who also attended Castle Bromwich's two primary schools, as well as King Edward's in Edgbaston, is rather luckier. He has a school photo which I believe was taken when he was 8 in 1964, see below. Philip is on the back row, second from the right. I also have a (digitalised) cine film taken at a Junior School sports day in 1964. It features my brother (dropping the relay baton), his good friend David Webb (Castle Bromwich's answer to Usain Bolt during the mid-1960s) streaking away from rest of the field, as well as brief glimpses of Mr Cooper and (I think) Mr Pigeon. If you have the means to upload it, and wish to do so, please let me know.

Stephen James